How data is collected

And where does the information come from?

The National Cancer Registration Service in Public Health England needs as much high-quality data as possible to be effective, but it is important to make it as easy as possible for clinical teams to provide it. It’s the job of the Registration Service to quality assure it and convert it to a source of intelligence that can be accessed simply and reliably.

The primary sources of data include the information that’s collected from screening clinics, X-rays and pathology labs and from all the multi-disciplinary teams that meet each week to discuss treatment options for cancer patients. The data is registered in near real-time, coded, classified and quality assured by highly trained staff working in teams at eight secure sites across England. For a full list of the data we collect click here.

There are many outputs from the data that is collected including NHS England’s Cancerdata and Atlas of variation as well as clinical audits in lung, breast and prostate, national statistics from ONS, and Cancer Alliance and provider performance measures. The Registration Service is working with the Cancer Vanguards on new ways to visualising a patient’s care pathway through every multi-disciplinary team meeting which will help doctors see at a glance the care their patient has received. Ultimately this sort of information will also be available to all patients who have been diagnosed with cancer, so they’ll be able to see their own care history in a way that’s both simple to use and secure.